Marathon Monday: Training Week #9

This week marks the [drumroll please...] halfway point of our marathon training!

Last week went something like this:

Monday - 48 minute, run 4/walk 2. Fairly easy run, south on Belvoir and back home. Brandon and I had a good run talk, which I think distracted me from over focusing on the fact that it was our first run back after a weekend-long break. I love having a running buddy!

Tuesday - 7 mile run. We did this 4 on, 1 off and discovered some new neighborhoods while we were at it. That was the best part! I mapped a run on mapmyrun.com so we could get away from our regular loops around the house. It was definitely a good move - broke up the monotony.

Wednesday - 6x800. This was supposed to be our Thursday run, but since we're doing our long run on Friday this week, we decided it's better to have a day in between hard 800's and the long slow run. I felt really good with these splits! We walked in between instead of jogging, but that's what both of us needed. My body was like "ok, I'll run these 800's hard, but you better give me more rest in between". At our slowest, we ran a 4:07 (for the 800) and at our fastest, we ran a 3:50. Stronger everyday!

Thursday - rest! Although, I might do some of my pushups, situps and squats. I decided to spread the workout out over the whole week instead of trying to get 5 sets in, three days a week. That might sound silly, but I am still doing the same amount of strength training in one week, just not concentrating it into three days.

Friday - 13 miles. I mapped a course similar to our 7 miler on Tuesday and it ended up being a pretty nice run. It wasn't too cold, until the wind blew of course. Yay for 13 miles, three days off and HOBOKEN ST. PATTY'S DAY!

Saturday - Sunday - REST (plus, green food and green beer!)

Our training last week essentially looked something like this (I love the garmin website, because it gives weekly mileage)

Next week will look something like this:

except, Monday is a rest day due to a seminar at Great Lakes Brewing Co. on keeping backyard livestock and the 7-hour, turned 10-hour drive back from NJ we had yesterday. There was a freak snowstorm in PA that absolutely covered the roads and had us moving at 30 mph (at the fastest!) Needless to say, we need a day off before getting back into it.

How did you spend your weekend??


Peace, Love & Bagels,

Bike MS: Pedal To The Point

So yesterday, I officially signed up to ride a two-day, 150-mile charity ride from Cleveland to Sandusky and back.

Crazy? Yep, I know. 

Initially, it began as just another way to test my body's boundaries, but the more I learn about MS and the more people I realize I know that are living with it everyday, the more important it has become for me to help raise both money and awareness for this disease. I am riding for those who can't.

This is directly from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's website:

"Multiple sclerosis is understood to be an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. This means a person’s own immune system attacks his/her brain and spinal cord. The nervous system is composed of nerve cells which send signals to each other via electrical messages. These signals are responsible for everything we do as humans, from movement to our higher consciousness...In MS, the immune system attacks and destroys the myelin sheath, causing difficulties with coordination, balance, and movement; fatigue; acute or chronic pain syndromes;and bladder and bowel difficulties."

Here's an illustration of what someone's neurons would look like if they're suffering from MS

As soon as I sent the email out to my family asking for donations, my aunt wrote back to me and one of my (second...or third...) cousins telling us that we were both participating in an MS awareness event. My cousin Judi has been living with MS since 1991 and has been participating in the MS walk in Belmar, New Jersey for the last twelve years or so. So, now it hits home even more. 

I'm riding 150 miles for Judi!!

So, in a shameless solicitation of my readers, I'm going to ask you all to help me reach my fundraising goal for this awesome event! Every rider has a mandatory $250 fundraising goal to reach - but I want to go above and beyond that! Since March is MS Awareness month [and because I absolutely love baking] I have a sweet proposition for you:

From today through the end of March, if you make a donation of at least $20, I will send you a batch of my mesquite chocolate chip cookies! (I will even make them vegan or gluten free if you have any special dietary needs)

Hmm, but don't judge me if you get them in a Christmas cookie bag. I still have a ton of those from the holidays!! Hahaha

Every donation goes to a great cause AND you'll be get cookies out of the deal?! Heck yes! But seriously, this is just my way to say thank you.

Are you working/walking/running/biking any charity events this year? Will it be your first?


Peace, Love & Bagels,

betcha didn't know...

Ok, ok, ok. I've been seeing these posts all over my Google reader/the blogosphere and I feel like I'm forwarding a chain letter right now because I'm actually caving in and doing this post.

Here are my ABC's:

A. Age: 25 (although, I really wanted to answer schfifty five...)

B. Bed size: Queen, and one of my most prized possessions. 

C. Chore you dislike: There is nothing I hate more than folding laundry! Except maybe emptying the dishwasher. 

D. Dogs: Pele'! He's probably the best dog ever...that's why I made him special Pele' treats.

E. Essential start to your day: Getting out of bed...if I don't do that, I'm doomed. 

F. Favorite color: Rainbow. No lie. I guess that's my non-commital libra coming out; I just can't decide on one color because I love the way they all look together!

G. Gold or silver: Hemp. I don't think I own any jewerly made of those precious metals, and I would be scared to wear it if I did. Tungsten is pretty tough though, I know this because my colleague has a tungsten wedding ring - which is a really good choice on his part.

H. Height: 5'0" but I lied on my college lacrosse roster and said I was 5'3" because that is WAY more intimidating

I. Instruments you play(ed): Violin, Drums/various percussion, Ukulele

J. Job title: Development Engineer

K. Kids: Someday. Actually that's where the "Bagels" in my blog title comes from. 

L. Live: CLEVELAND, Ohio (imagine, the way Bradley Nowell sings it in the song "April 29th, 1992")

M. Mom’s name: Sharon

N. Nicknames: Becca is actually a nickname. Others at one point or another included: Becky, Gecko, Noodle, Noodle-nose, B-Dili, Beebecca, Becs, B, Dildoberto (that was a retort for calling my friend Jo-balls)...oh, the list goes on. 

O. Overnight hospital stays: Um...zero. Wow, knock on wood. 

P. Pet peeves: Using text message abbreviations in emails...especially when you have a full keyboard at your disposal. I can't tell you how many emails that I've gotten from doctors that I work with "Thx, talk to u ltr" Um, really? I realize you're emailing me from your phone, but I can almost guarantee that you have a whole QWERTY keyboard to work with.

...phew. Could you tell I was getting heated?

Q. Quote from a movie: "ESCAPE...hmm, funny, It's spelled just like the word 'escape'"

R. Righty or lefty: Righty tighty!

S. Siblings: Brother, Max. He's 22 and I punched him in the face and bent his glasses the last time I saw him. I swear it was an accident! I temporarily lost my sanity.

T. Time you wake up: 6 a.m. if we're practicing yoga. 6:35 a.m. if I'm just getting up to go to work (which usually means actually getting out of bed at about 6:50)

U. Underwear: Eh, I could do without it. I love those running shorts with built-in undies though!

V. Vegetables you don't like: Not a huge celery fan, but I definitely eat it sometimes.

W. What makes you run late: Brandon. He's the king of dilly-dallying ;-)

X. X-rays you’ve had: My left tibia, in 2009 after the Akron Marathon. Prior to that, I was 3 years old and got hit in the head by the "swings" ride at a carnival. I vaguely remember waking up with a doctor and my mom standing over me and I had a big lead vest on.

Y. Yummy food you make: No-knead bread and mesquite chocolate chip cookies

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Kangaroos!




What are your ABCs?

Homemade Dog Treats

At 8:30 on Saturday morning, I had a brilliant idea! So brilliant, in fact, that I absolutely had to run into our bedroom, jump on the bed and wake Brandon and Pele' up to let them know!


Why don't I make Pele' some homemade treats?


When Brandon brought him home some treats the other day, he took note of the fact that we try to avoid buying stuff that has a billion ingredients...so why wouldn't we do that for our dog? The "healthy" dog treats at the grocery store have just about the same thing that the regular treats have: flour, meat mush, bone mush and lots of unpronounceable preservatives.


Thus, my brilliant 8:30 a.m. idea was born! 


Pele' loves apples. Pele' also loves carrots. I had some apples in need of a use, because they were threatening to go bad. I also had some carrot pulp I had saved in the freezer (they were carrots from our garden that we had used for juicing - I didn't want to get rid of the pulp!) I'd bet veterinarians and vegetarians would approve!


Homemade Doggie Treats

Ingredients:

3 apples*

~3 tbsp water

½ cup carrot pulp

3 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Blend the apples with water until they take on an applesaucy texture (this might take more than 3 tablespoons of water). 

In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix “applesauce”, carrot pulp and flour. The mixture should be almost like cookie-batter in texture.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment and spread the batter over the sheet in a ½ inch thick layer. Scour the layer of batter into whatever size you want your treats to be.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, turning the pan once about 10 minutes in. When they are finished, take them out of the oven and use kitchen scissors or a pizza cutter to follow your scoured lines and cut the treats. Return to over for another 20 minutes or so, until they’re nice and crunchy. Let cool before giving them to your puppy.

*Note: You can also use leftover apple pulp from juicing apples, but you may have to add more water to the mixture.




The verdict?? Pele' loves them! Gosh, Becca. That was a brilliant idea!

 

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